Hi all. I've got some work that I've completed for a customer and, despite a couple of phone calls to let him know that it's ready, he still hasn't been to pay for it and take it away. Any idea how long I have to hang on to his work before advertising it on Ebay or the likes?

You are not allowed to sell the customers picture, it's their property

best thing to do, if more than say 3 months, take the picture out of the frame and use the frame for something else, then deliver the picture back to the customer, tell them never to cross your threshold again

hanging all the way up my stairway is the "rouge's gallery". All pictures that have been abandoned. The oldest is a schoolphoto I framed in 1987. The kids must be in their late 40s by now.

It's annoying but it happens. As for disposal, you can't legally sell the work. Although if you did there would likely be no comeback.I've never tried this but one way is to notify the customer that you have sold their stuff (you haven't really). If they come storminground full of self-righteous indignation (with lawyer in tow possibly) then you got them. Let them have a good rant and then wheelthe pictures out.

I know that one particular customer has other things on his plate at the moment so was going to give him the benefit of the doubt for the moment. I've only had the work for about 3 months and have left messages for him. I was just interested in finding out where we stand with issues like this.

I had a situation where a customer picked up his frames on a Friday and was killed in a car crash the next day. His bank returnedhis cheque. I didn't chase the family for payment. I figured at least I was still breathing.

I have two frames at the moment. I know the customer has passed away, heard it on the grapevine. The family have not been in touchand I have lost his contact details. These things are going to happen and it's a cost of doing business.

I've only had two customers do this to me. It does not bother me much, after six months I am thinking about reusing the frame for something else. If another customer is looking for a similar frame, I'll offer them a deal to more the frame on. I'm not likely to be hanging on the the frame much more than a year to 18 months. Unfortunately, I still have to store the artwork, if I can not get the customer to take it away.